"The terrorists ate in front of us while they starved us": Evyatar David's harrowing testimony on CNN
In a special interview with CNN, Evyatar David, who was released after more than two years in Hamas captivity, spoke about extreme starvation conditions, nightmares that continue to haunt him, and the complex struggle of the rehabilitation process. "They enjoyed food while we looked like skeletons," he shared.
Captivity survivor Evyatar David, who was documented looking emaciated and weak and forced to dig what he was told would be his grave, spoke in his first interview with international media yesterday, Wednesday, about the intentional starvation, the propaganda videos, and the nightmares that continue to haunt him since his release.
David, now 25, was kidnapped at age 22 from the Nova party during the October 7 attack, along with his childhood friend Guy Gilboa-Dalal. Two other friends who were with them were murdered. The two were transferred to the Gaza Strip and spent most of their captivity underground. David was released on October 13, 2025, after 738 days, as part of a ceasefire deal mediated by the US and as one of the last 20 living hostages remaining in the Strip.
In an interview with CNN, David described dealing with PTSD:
"It can surprise me at any moment. One hour I can be fine and happy, and the next moment remember something from captivity and experience flashbacks. I wake up at night from nightmares, and it affects me throughout the entire following day. It is very unstable and random."
In the months leading up to the filming of the Hamas propaganda video in August 2025, he was held in conditions of extreme starvation. "Beyond the lack of food and the physical feeling that you are always hungry, there is the mental feeling that you have nothing to eat, and that you don't know if you will have food in an hour, tomorrow, or in two days," he said. "You have no idea what is going to happen, and you might die of hunger." The distress, he added, caused stress and even conflicts between the hostages.
David said that his captors compared his physical condition to that of Gilboa-Dalal, and because he looked weaker, "they decided that I would be the actor in the video." According to him, "Everything is staged, but based on the truth - we didn't eat for three months. Everything I said and did there, they ordered me to do." He struggled even to hold the shovel, and when he told his captors that he was about to collapse, they ignored him.
"I could hear them laughing, eating cakes and drinking tea, as if there wasn't a person next to them who looked like a skeleton," he said.
According to him, the terrorists enjoyed food, air conditioning, and television. "They told us there was no food in Gaza, but we knew that wasn't true, because we always saw the terrorists - they were fat and muscular. We knew they were lying and starving us."
Since his return, David has focused on rehabilitation, which he says is "very complex." His family members and friends launched a crowdfunding campaign for him after he claimed that the state does not provide sufficient assistance to captivity survivors. Music, he says, has become one of his main coping tools.
Recently, he played the guitar alongside his sister at his older brother Ili's wedding. "They tried to destroy our lives and the lives of our families, and in the end, they didn't manage to destroy everything," he said. Next month, he is expected to go with his brother on a series of lectures and events in the United States where he will tell about his experiences in captivity: "It is important for us to keep our stories alive. The world needs to know what happened and must not forget it."
